The Valley of Nightmares
by Literaturefangirl
Summary: After the universe's collective fear of Thanos' culling weakens the dimensions of the Dream World. Peter and Doctor Strange travel to the Nightmare realm to stop Nightmare's attacks on Earth.


The war against Thanos was over. The trillions of lives he had taken away, restored. Left with a fleeting memory of what had happened, people did their best to pick up the pieces and move on. But for some, the act of terror that Thanos had committed was still keenly felt.

Peter was one of them.

Left with the memory of his life being snatched away and the unsettling fear that something worse was yet to come. Peter often struggled to get enough sleep, creating cause for concern from his family and friends who wished to see him recover from the ordeal.

—

As Sorcerer Supreme, it was Stephen's Strange duty to monitor the multiverse for any signs of threats. Prompted by nightmares that seemed to come all too frequently, Stephen's intuition lead him to investigate the Nightmare Realm; a world ruled by the demon Nightmare, within the harmless Dream World; a product of humanity's collective unconscious.

Impacted by the mass fear and panic felt by the survivors on Earth, the walls of the Dream Dimension had weakened, which would have disastrous consequences if kept unchecked.

Stephen did not have to wait very long to see such an effect, when all he had to do was look out the window and see the Avengers fighting a giant serpent.

Making his way to the area the Avengers were trying to contain the serpent, Stephen joined the fray.

Close by, Thor hacked away at the serpent's tough hide with Stormbreaker. His mirthful spirit deeming, that now was the appropriate time to reminisce about his childhood with a story.

"This reminds me of a story Father used to tell me as a child, about a gigantic serpent that would gobble me up if I misbehaved."

Seeing Stephen's bemused face because of his father's unusual parenting techniques, Thor made sure to finish his story. "I wasn't scared of regular snakes, just the big ones." To reassure Stephen that he was still a brave individual, with no disrespect to snakes.

Understanding that this was no ordinary snake, Stephen asked. "Thor, did you have nightmares of this snake?"

"Yes, I did. How did you know?"

"Because the dream dimension is leaking into our reality, manifesting itself in the form of your childhood nightmare." Stephen explained, conjuring a shield to block a lash from the serpent's tail.

Swinging down to the ground, after tying up the serpent's neck with webbing for the rest of the Avengers to finish off, Peter chimed in with movie trivia.

"This is just like the final battle in Ghostbusters, where whatever they think of gets turned into a giant monster!"

"Dare I ask, if it ended well?" Stephen indulged Peter's outburst with a question.

"Yeah, but then it left a huge mess all over the city." Peter confessed, sheepishly. Realizing that Ghostbusters was not the best example for the situation.

"Sounds like our job." Natasha made a dry remark, overhearing the conversation as she struck down her staff into the serpent's head. Only serving to agitate it further and breaking free of the webbing acting as a restraint.

Recognizing that physical attacks alone were ineffective in defeating the monster, Stephen announced the next plan of attack.

"We can't slay this beast with brute strength alone. If it was conjured by the ruler of Nightmares himself, then I will take the fight to him."

Opening up a portal with his sling ring, Stephen turned to Peter and asked. "Feel like taking a nap?"

"I do actually! When this over." Peter replied. Ignorant of the real reason why Stephen had asked him such a question.

"Wanda, I'm going to need you to come with us as well." Stephen invited Wanda to join them.

"OK."

—

Returning to the Sanctum Santorum, Stephen lead Peter and Wanda to the lounge room and eyed a leather arm chair, gesturing for Peter to sit down.

"Have a seat."

"What do you want me to do?" Wanda asked. Curious as to what was expected as her, when Stephen also sat down on a chair, as if he and Peter were taking a break.

"Nightmare is bound to sense my entry into the Dream World, so we are going to enter it via Peter's dream. You are in charge of guarding our bodies, because I trust that you would never let any harm come to them, should anything go wrong. Our lives are _literally_ in your hands."

"Now I know how a surgeon feels like." Wanda quipped, feeling the pressure of what lay ahead.

"Close your eyes." Stephen instructed Peter and closed his as well. With both their eyes now closed, Stephen made a waving motion with his fingers and the two drifted off to sleep.

—

Opening his eyes, the first thing Peter noticed was a chill running down his back from lying down on the cold surface of the ground, he and Stephen found themselves on. The mass of earth they had landed on being a floating island. Connected to a much larger landmass by a series of small pieces of separated terrain, acting as a stepping stone staircase. Mist surrounded the islands in an otherwise endless grey void. The emptiness of it all making Peter's hairs stand on one end.

Next to him, lay Stephen. Who, to Peter's surprise had not woken up yet. Kneeling besides him in a panic, Peter cried out his name in an effort to wake him, to no effect.

"Doctor Strange!"

"You can wake up now!" Peter looked around furtively for signs of danger and encouraged Stephen with an upbeat, but uneasy voice hoping it would be enough to stir him.

"Sorry. I had to ensure there was enough time between our arrivals, so Nightmare wouldn't get suspicious." Stephen's eyes fluttered open and he apologized, as if waking up late was like missing a business meeting.

"Speaking of gaps, can I use my webs to get up there instead of using the wobbly platforms?" Peter pointed to the top of the biggest landmass on the horizon.

"Absolutely not! If your webbing was to catch Nightmare's attention, he would turn it into spaghetti and you would fall to your death."

Offended that Stephen would even consider the possibility of such a thing, the cloak of levitation smacked Stephen on the chin.

"Even if such a thing were to happen, my cloak would be there to catch you." Stephen reassured both Peter's fear and the cloak's abilities in question.

"Then let's go!" Peter jumped to his feet and set off towards the first stepping stone.

"I admire your enthusiasm, kid." Stephen used an affectionate nickname to express his admiration for Peter's pluck.

Slowly making their way towards the top of Nightmare's domain, Stephen took to the lead to spare Peter from being the first to handle any danger that might come their way. The journey was slow, but not entirely tiresome. Requiring effort that occasionally made them pant, but did not prevent them from holding a conversation should they choose to.

Once they were on the verge of reaching the top, Doctor Strange cautioned Peter about the powerful adversary they were about to face.

"Be on your guard. The ruler of this dimension is the height of his powers. I can't imagine what he'd be capable of powered by all this fear."

Stepping on to the island, Stephen held his arm out to prevent Peter from walking any further. But while Peter appreciated the gesture, it was clear there was no one present in the barren landscape.

"I don't see anyone." Peter spoke and brushed past Stephen's arm.

"Maybe he's on his lunch break." Stephen suggested, making light of the grim situation. It was perhaps for this very reason, that the presence of the all-seeing Nightmare, finally made itself known.

Up ahead, on the usually dry landscape, was a deep puddle that trickled some of its contents towards Stephen and Peter. They followed the spill until they were near the puddle, where a dark-haired girl slowly emerged from the depths and called out for help.

"Stephen! I'm sinking. Help me!"

"Donna…" Stephen uttered the name that once belonged to his sister who had drowned when they were young. The sight of his water-logged sister, bringing tears to his eyes, as the grief and the guilt he had imposed upon himself all came flooding back.

"Why didn't save me, Peter?"

Another voice called out. One familiar to Peter's ears. The voice of his deceased Uncle Ben.

"You could have done something, but you chose not to." The apparition of Ben continued, causing Peter to struggle keeping his breathing under control as he let out a sob. The painful reminder that he could have prevented Uncle Ben's death, forming a lump in his throat, making it futile for any words to come out.

Back in the Sanctum Sanctorum, Wanda watched as Peter gasped for air. Whatever was happening in the dream world had an effect on his real body. She hoped that they knew that as well.

"Enough of your tricks Nightmare, come out and show yourself." Stephen demanded for Nightmare's cruel games to come to an end.

Shapeshifting from the gnarled tree near the puddle into his true self, Nightmare stepped out and posed a question in return.

"Isn't that what the billionaire claimed you did? Perform simple tricks for the masses?"

"I studied for years under the tutelage of the Ancient One, mastering my craft until I became worthy of the name Sorcerer Supreme. I am no mere magician."

"If that's true, then you won't object to pulling a rabbit out of hat, will you?" Nightmare offered Stephen a black, silk top hat.

Reluctantly accepting it, Stephen held the hat upside down with one hand and pulled what felt like a warm, fuzzy creature out of the hat.

Expecting to see a soft, white rabbit, Stephen's brows furrowed when he saw that it was a grumpy looking raccoon, crossing his arms and dressed in clothing instead.

"That's not a rabbit."

"No, that's Rocket! One of the guardians of the galaxy. I met him on the alien ship."

"I went on the planet's surface to confront Thanos and I missed all the fun." Stephen shook his head with mock disappointment. "Which is what I'm here to talk to you about." Stephen addressed Nightmare. "There is already enough psychic energy to sustain you for a lifetime. Call off the attack on Earth."

"No. Now that I've have had a taste of the psychic suffering on such a universal scale, nothing else will do!" Nightmare greedily refused Stephen's order and began conjuring a spell.

"Peter! Take out his hands!" Stephen called out to Peter. Slinging web fluid onto Nightmare's hands, one of his hands was fast enough to avoid it and conjured a black, winged horse which charged at Doctor Strange, making him dive to the ground.

While Nightmare opened a portal to let out a semi-transparent demon to deal with Peter, Stephen rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding being trampled by the horse's hooves. Giving him an idea.

As the demon swiped at Peter with claws sharp enough to slice him into ribbons, Peter's intuition told him to step out of the way as a black horse, whose head was wrapped around by the Cloak of Levitation charged towards him and crashed into its owner. Pinned by the weight of his steed, Nightmare used all of his strength to fling the horse away off his legs, making it neigh with distress.

"It's not nice to abuse animals." Peter reproached Nightmare and shot some webbing on Nightmare's mouth so he couldn't respond.

"But in your case, we can make an exception." Stephen finished with a smile, making red bands snake around Nightmare to restrain him, while he cast a spell which slowly formed a green, crystal prison around him, where Nightmare would be trapped forever.

"Let's get of here." Stephen voiced what they were both thinking and took Peter's hand, transporting them back to their own reality.

"I hope we _never_ have to do that again." Stephen avowed with a stunned expression on his face, worn out by the day's events.

"No shit, Sherlock." Peter allowed himself to swear in agreement.

* * *

 **I wanted to write my own version of a Doctor Strange/Peter team up, ever since I saw the Ultimate Spider-Man episode 'Strange Days' and because I love their interactions. Infinity War finally gave me that chance. Plus Tom Holland wanted a 'no shit, Sherlock' line in Infinity War, so this is for him ^^  
**


End file.
